Frenemies NEW
by DivineBitterness
Summary: Pandora's always had an odd life, and she often escapes to the woods behind her home. One day, she meets a family living there. How does THIS change her life?


Okay! So, I figured I should re-do Frenemies. I'm too lazy to come up with a new title, but I'm open for suggestions! ^0^

The only characters that belong to ME are Pandora, Stephani, and Jake. None of the others are mine!

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"PAAAAAAANDOOOORRRRAAAAA!" The girl cringed at the shrill screech coming from downstairs. With a deep breath, she shut her book, left her room, and swiftly slid down the stair rail. Her long reddish hair flew behind her, looking like a cape. The fun of sliding down banisters had left her long ago. She only did this as habit and because it annoyed her parents so much. Her mother walked out, mouth open, obviously ready to call for her once more. The woman stood and glared at her daughter, who was still sitting on the rail. Pandora's pale, freckled face cracked a small smirk, and she kicked her legs in the air, barely missing one of her mother's precious vases. "How many times have we told you to NOT do that?! You could fall and BREAK something! Have you even NOTICED how many EXPENSIVE VASES there are?!" She screamed. Pandora's smirk quickly turned bitter, and she jumped down.

_Same old mother. Only worried about her damn vases._ "What do you want, Stephani?" Pandora asked, trying to hold back her hate. She never truly thought of this woman, who had given birth to her, as her 'mother'. "Is it important, or just me being a scapegoat again? Because I have a book –" she waved the thick volume in her hand, narrowly missing another vase, "- and I would like to finish it." Stephani gasped, clawing the air in the direction of her vase. "Oh, re_lax_. I know where every God damn vase _is_ in this house. I'm not stupid enough to break one."

"How _dare_ you!" The older woman gasped, pretending to be hurt. "I was merely going to tell you about your new school! But now that you've been so… _rude_, I don't think I will!" Pandora rolled her eyes at the fake hurt her 'mother' was doing. "Go back to your room and finish your stupid book! I hope you're not hungry, because _you don't get any dinner_, either!" She almost screamed.

Pandora just shrugged and walked back up the stairs, tapping each vase with a long black nail on the way up. She took pleasure in the cringes Stephani did when she heard each high-pitched chime. As soon as she was safe in her room, she locked her door, opened her window, and jumped.

The wind whistling in her ear made her grin, and she landed on all fours in a slightly flattened bush. At the age of seven, she had it planted there as her only birthday present as a strategic way to get out of the house. She didn't really care if her parents were suspicious about it. If they cared, they'd say something. The petite girl climbed over her back fence, which was backed with a dense forest. The girl took a deep breath, smiling, before walking into her safe haven.

She took trails used only by animals, and once she had found a rat trail. Thinking it was a odd thing for a forest, she searched for it once more, quickly finding the path created by small, rat-like feet. Taking a closer look, she realized the path had been used again much more recently. Ignoring the branches and twigs that tugged at her, she followed the path.

She hadn't even gone far when she came upon a beautiful home. In the front, there was an orange-haired boy fighting with a boy who had dark gray hair. Pandora clenched her fists and stood up to her full height – 5'. "OI!" She shouted, gaining the attention of the gray-haired boy. The orange one took the chance to try and punch him, but the other boy grabbed his fist without even trying. "Why the hell are you two fighting?!" She demanded, stalking over to them. "There's rarely _ever_ a good reason to fight, ya know."

"We were simply sparring," the gray-haired boy said softly, dropping the other boy's fist. His voice suggested he was shy, but the way he fought the other proved he wasn't. Pandora _refused_ to admit it was simply 'sparring'. "Why are you on Sohma property?" He asked with the same quiet voice, causing Pandora to lean closer to hear him.

She blinked in surprise at his question. "Oh, I didn't know. I'm sorry, I must've strayed into your property without knowing it. I was following a rat trail. Do you perhaps have a rat problem?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes!" The orange-haired boy spat, shooting a glare to the other boy. Pandora took note of the gray-haired boy's odd purple eyes. She had always wanted eyes of that color, but she was stuck with dark brown instead. The orange-haired boy's eyes were brownish, but a lighter shade than her own. It was a little difficult to tell, though, because he moved around so much, where the gray-haired boy was quite still.

"Urusai, baka neko," The purple-eyed boy said, voice suddenly hard.

"Shaddup, ya damned rat!" The orange boy responded hotly, obviously pissed off. "Wanna fight?!" He put his fists back off. Pandora wondered if he had forgotten that only a minute ago he had just been beaten, or if he just didn't care.

The girl found herself giggling at the strange pair. She hadn't meant to, but it was funny how they called each other animals. The orange-haired boy turned his glare to her. "What about you?" A taller man with black hair and brown eyes appeared behind the boy and hit him on the top of the head.

"Kyo, Kyo, Kyo," he sighed, shaking his head. "Always trying to pick a fight with someone, even a pretty young lady such as this one." Pandora shot the man a glare but he didn't seem to mind, if he had even noticed.

"I'm sorry about the two of them. I'm Yuki Sohma," the boy with the gray hair and purple eyes told her, cringing slightly when he said his name.

His name sounded vaguely familiar, but Pandora couldn't quite place it. Her face crinkled a little as she tried to remember, a habit she's always had. "Oh! There were a few girls talking about you once! They were wearing school uniforms and mentioned a 'Prince Yuki'." Yuki cringed once more. "Looks like I was right. I think it's a rather stupid name for someone your age. I'm Pandora Takeshi."

Yuki smiled a little before continuing with introductions. "The ill-tempered idiot here is Kyo, and the pervert behind him is Shigure." He sounded more sure of himself this time.

Pandora bowed slightly. "I'm sorry for trespassing, Yuki, Kyo, and Shigure. [Note: I am NOT going to do honorifics this time around. But if you would like me to, just say so and I'll consider switching to it.] I really should be getting home, though. My idiot parents may send out the police." She sighed softly. "If I wander back here again, I'm sorry in advance!" With a slight wave, Pandora dashed off, using the path that had brought her here to take her home.

"PAAAAANDOOORRRRAAAAA!" The girl cringed, but didn't leave her room.

Instead, she calmly walked to her bathroom to pick the twigs and leaves out of her hair and off her clothes. "WHAT DO YOU WANT, STEPHANI?!" Most of her time was spent cleaning and covering the small scrapes on her hands and face. Jeans and a jacket were always useful to wear when crawling through the forest.

"YOUR FATHER IS TAKING YOU TO SCHOOL TOMORROW! BUT FROM THEN ON, YOU'RE WALKING! GOT IT?!" From the kitchen, Pandora heard a faint, "Hey!" from her father, Jake. Apparently, this was the first he heard of this.

For a second, she contemplated yelling back, then thought better of it. She was too deep in thought about the Sohmas to try aggravating her parents. By the time she had showered and was crawling into bed it was past 11.

Even as she drifted to sleep, her thoughts were solely on the odd three she had met in the forest and the trail that led her to them. Pandora grew up thinking there was a reason for everything, but there were always a few things she could never quite figure out. One, her family. Two, everything that had happened with the Sohmas today. And what was a rat trail doing in the woods?

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Yea, it's pretty much the same first chapter, but I actually kind of liked it, so I decided to keep it. It may change later on, I'm not too sure. Please review! ^0^


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